There are many lamps known in the art for various applications. To give just one example, a wide variety of lamps are used on automotive vehicles. There are expected common connection systems for such lamps, both for OEM applications and repair and retrofit applications. For example, it is extremely common for lamps to allow either ring terminal connections, connections using FASTON® connectors, or connections which are specifically shaped to mate with specific sealed and unsealed plug ins from various manufacturers such as Amp Incorporated, Delphi Corporation and Deutsch, to name just a few non-limiting examples. In certain applications, it is also a common requirement that the terminals and the lamp housing provide a sealed connection so that the interior of the lamp housing is not exposed to the elements.
Such connection systems are relatively straightforward to manufacture in the case of incandescent or halogen sealed beam lamps, or lamps with plastic housings; however, providing such connectors in an LED lamp unit with aluminum or other metal housings for heat sinking, where the connector must be attached to a circuit board to which the LED lamps are mounted, can require quite a significant amount of hand assembly work involving the routing and soldering of wires. Additionally, providing a plurality of connection systems for a specific lamp having a plastic housing requires separate costly tooling for each different connection system.
There is therefore a need for a system and method to provide a connector terminal for lamps. The present disclosure is directed toward systems and methods which meet this and other needs.